For the past several years, retired civil servant andamateur geographer George Holmes has been poring over NewZealand’s official maps for errors — spelling errors inparticular — that have been overlooked for generations.

Mr. Holmes says that it’s all about respect for the peoplethat these places were originally named after, adding, "Itis quite surprising — previously no one had made theeffort to make sure a name was spelled correctly… If aletter arrived for you in the mail, and your name wasmisspelled, you’d take it as a bit of a dig in the ribsthat they hadn’t taken the time to get it right."

But his biggest beef is about the spelling of his owncountry’s name. When Dutch discoverer Abel Tasman appliedthe appellation "Nieuw Zeeland" — after the Netherlandsprovince of Zeeland — to the new land in 1642 (then beat ahasty departure after three of his men were killed bynatives), little did he imagine that over 125 years later,Britain’s Captain Cook would use three different spellingsof the strange new land that no one had effectively yetclaimed or mapped in his reports and charts and wouldultimately settle on the current spelling of New Zealand.

Based on this series of historical events, Mr. Holmesclaims that Captain Cook’s errors deprived New Zealand ofits correct spelling — New Zeeland.

But no changes are in the wind anytime soon and it’sunlikely that many Kiwis would like to see their country’sname changed. "It’s obviously a very sensitive issue," saysHolmes.